Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Allen Harim sending chicken to Houston for hurricane relief

Delmarva’s $3.2 billion poultry industry is joining Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

Allen Harim spokeswoman Cathy Bassett and a driver are bringing a truck carrying 40,000 lbs of chicken down to Houston.

They’re teaming up with Operation BBQ Relief – a Missouri-based disaster relief program – to prepare and distribute the chicken. Operation BBQ Relief mobilizes thousands of volunteers to bring people food following disasters.

Bassett says she’s not sure how many people the 40,000 lbs of chicken will be able to feed.

“We expect it will be there for about a week at least, while we’re serving it up. If the need continues beyond that, we’re prepared to send another truck,” Bassett said.

Bassett said she plans to stay in the area helping until Tuesday, but the truck will stay as long as it needs to.

Allen Harim is shifting orders around to help get the chicken to Houston. The chicken comes from about 200 family farmers on Delmarva.

Operation BBQ Relief has been in Houston since Sunday, helping serve food to people in need.

David Marks, a spokesman for the organization, said the collective of about 75 volunteers is cooking bulk meals like turkey and pork loins with vegetables, and bringing them to convention centers, churches and fire departments throughout Houston.

He described the scene in Houston as a lot of closed, washed-out roads, barricades and “a lot of really scared, displaced people who have not had a meal, don’t know where their next meal will be coming from, have no possessions, they’ve lost everything.”

Operation BBQ has set up their supplies in a large municipal parking lot. The organization brought two large kitchens – 30-by-40 square ft. each, and six large commercial-sized capacity smokers that can knock out 1,400 lbs of food per cooking cycle.

Allen Harim’s truck leaves at 10 a.m. Thursday to help out with Harvey relief efforts.

Related Content